Ferdinand Joseph Arnodin (9 October 1845 – 24 April 1924) was a French

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and industrialist born in

Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon (, literally ''Sainte-Foy near Lyon'') is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Geography It is a suburb of the city of Lyon, located to the west of the city. It is locate ...

Rhône The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...

who died in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire in

Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a population of 680,434.

. Specialising in cableway transporters, he is regarded as the inventor of the

transporter bridge A transporter bridge, also known as a ferry bridge or aerial transfer bridge, is a type of movable bridge that carries a segment of roadway across a river. The gondola is slung from a tall span by wires or a metal frame. The design has been us ...

, having been the first to patent the idea in 1887.Troyano, L.F., "Bridge Engineering - A Global Perspective", Thomas Telford Publishing, 2003 However, the first such bridge was in fact designed by Alberto Palacio, with Arnodin's help. Nine of the eighteen known examples of the transporter bridge may be attributed to him. Three of them still exist. They use the technology of both

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

s and

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

s. Arnodin built a great number of second generation

s at the turn of the 20th century, and he also restored and consolidated a number of old first generation suspension bridges (before 1860): the aprons were reinforced and the old wire cables replaced by spirally-wound double torsion steel wire ropes, often with addition of a cable-stayed bridge (known structural modification under the name of “Système Arnodin”). His factory (for the production of prefabricated metal sub-structures) was established in Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. Vestiges of this factory were still visible a few years ago, and the chimney could still be seen, half ruined, between the Loire and railway. The Loire Fleet Museum, at Châteauneuf-sur-Loire, shows memories of these workshops: an old model of the Nantes transporter bridge, a section of steel wire rope manufactured by Arnodin and photographs.

Major works

*Bilbao Puente Colgante, 1893, still in use * Bizerta/Brest Transporter Bridge, 1898 * Rouen Transporter Bridge, 1898 *

Rochefort-Martrou Transporter Bridge Rochefort-Martrou Transporter Bridge is a transporter bridge built between 1898 and 1900. It is located in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France and connects the towns of Rochefort and Échillais wi ...

, 1900, still in use *

Nantes Transporter Bridge Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, 1903 *

Marseille Transporter Bridge The Marseille transporter bridge, inaugurated in 1905 and destroyed in 1944, was a crossing of the Old Port of Marseille, designed by engineer Ferdinand Arnodin. History The transporter bridge of Marseille was built in nineteen months to connect ...

, 1905, destroyed 1944 *

Newport Transporter Bridge The Newport Transporter Bridge ( cy, Pont Gludo Casnewydd) is a transporter bridge that crosses the River Usk in Newport, South East Wales. The bridge is the lowest crossing on the River Usk. It is a Grade I listed structure. It is one of f ...

, 1906, still in use *

Bordeaux Transporter Bridge Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

, never finished * Sidi M'Cid Bridge,

Constantine, Algeria Constantine ( ar, قسنطينة '), also spelled Qacentina or Kasantina, is the capital of Constantine Province in northeastern Algeria. During Roman Empire, Roman times it was called Cirta and was renamed "Constantina" in honor of emperor Const ...

, 1908, 160 m span

References

External links

Newport Transporter Bridge — an historical perspective
*
Rochefort Transporter Bridge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnodin, Ferdinand 1845 births 1924 deaths People from Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon French bridge engineers French civil engineers Transporter bridges